May 11, 2002	Saturday	Safar 27, 1423

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RAWALPINDI, May 10: Inspector generals of police throughout the country have been directed to launch a massive crackdown against terrorist, and to prepare a new list of activists of the banned religious outfits, an official source said on Thursday.

Directives, the sources said, had also been issued to withdraw facilities being provided to the members of banned organizations in jails and to give them ‘tough time”. The instructions also called for a vigil on those activists of religious group who had been released from jails.

The authorities concerned had also been directed to deploy rangers and police commandos at foreign installations across the country, particularly of the French and American.

The government has directed the IGPs for providing a police guard in a separate car to all the VIPs during their outdoor movement, the source said.

In the meanwhile, the French authorities have been formally asked by the Foreign Office to nominate a team for joint investigations into the Karachi suicide bombing in which 11 French men were killed.

In a related move, troops have started patrolling in the city to maintain law and order after Wednesday’s shooting incident in which two cops of Rawalpindi police were shot dead by four unidentified killers who are still at large.

The police have also launched a massive crackdown on the Afghan nationals, and picked up over 400 persons in connection with yesterday’s deadly attack on policemen, a spokesman for the police said.

Military vehicles continued to patrol the city’s roads throughout the day to desperately show that things were under control.